Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere these days. Resources like Chat GPT can whiz up a specified document in seconds, but what are the implications for education?

There have been many reports about the potential for AI to be used to 'cheat' during homework or assessments as more becomes known about the technology and how it will affect teaching and learning in schools and universities.

However, Charles Sturt University (CSU) academics are urging teachers to embrace AI and to harness it to help tailor learning needs for individual students.

Sub-Dean (Learning and Teaching) and Lecturer in the Charles Sturt Faculty of Arts and Education in Wagga Wagga, Dr Jacquie Tinkler, said AI could have numerous benefits provided teachers are involved in every step of its development process.

"It is important teachers engage with the technology at this early developmental stage so they are able to contribute to its development as an educational tool," she said.

"Schools are already working on developing policies for its use, but these often focus on students' misuse of the technology and not so much on how and when teachers can or should use it.

"The real benefit will hopefully be the use of such technologies to help individualise learning materials and approaches for students so they are able to learn in ways that suit their talents, abilities and interests."

Adam Smithers, a teacher at Gilgandra Public School said he has used AI personally but not in an educational setting as yet.

"I used AI at uni to do my accreditation but I didn't like the way it wrote things - I had to go through and do a lot of editing. As I work in early years, it hasn't been a big thing in my class setting as yet, though it definitely is as students transition to high school."

Mr Smithers said he had been aware of plagiarism issues in the educational setting but agreed AI is a thing of the future.

"It's like mobile phones, I guess," he said. "They slowly made their way into schools and education. Teachers will have to work with AI with students to a degree as its part of society but there will need to be policies created around its use."

Dr Tinkler said teachers need to actively learn about AI, how it works and how to properly use it. She said the result will be the ability to develop lessons that are more detailed and tailored to different students' needs.

"We are currently training new teachers who are both university students and future teachers, so they are seeing AI's use from both perspectives," she said. "AI is going to be a permanent part of teaching and learning in the future, and our students also need to be learning about this technology now as it develops and new ways of teaching and learning evolve."

Mr Smithers said he was aware of some teachers using AI to assist in programming.

"I think it will filter down to all school levels but it's not so much used in lower year levels as yet," he said. "I can see I will use AI more in the future but I need to get more confident with the programming aspect of it first."